Renn Fayre Lore: Traditions
Over the 30+ years of Renn Fayre, many traditions have come and gone. Whether you have attended the annual celebration before or if this May will be your first time, it can be hard to keep track of all of the activities. This article will remind you of a few, including some that need your help to organize!
Softball Tournament
The softball tournament starts Saturday morning and the final game takes place late Sunday afternoon. Anyone can sign up to play in the tournament, as long as they have nine people to field. Many academic departments, clubs, and sports teams come up with punny names to compete for the trophy, which the Ultimate Frisbee team won last year. The games are loosely moderated, so if this interests you, volunteer as a referee through our Google sign-up form, linked in SB Info!
Lodges
Many students have mentioned that their favorite part about Renn Fayre is roaming around campus and finding structures to explore. One of the traditional places people can find are the different "lodges," inspired by Twin Peaks. The White Lodge is a chill space; the Black Lodge is glow-in-the-dark with glowing clouds and blacklight; the Green Lodge is often where facilities pass out PB&Js to everyone; the Blue Lodge is substance-free and offers more accessible activities.
Feast
Our favorite part about the Feast tradition is its collaboration with a whole team of alumni. The Meat Smoke Crew are past Reedies who start cooking meat the Friday morning of Renn Fayre, which is then served on Saturday afternoon alongside a whole, well, feast of other food! While enough servings are made to feed the community, the Reed community also preps and cooks this meal, so make sure to sign up to volunteer if you like to cook!
Bug Eating Contest
A tradition with a pretty self-explanatory name, the bug-eating contest is held in the amphitheater. Originally, students would bid lower and lower amounts of money that they would need to eat the bug and whoever proposed the cheapest amount ate it. More recently, the tradition has students sign up to see who can eat the most creepy crawlies. If someone was interested in leading this project for Renn Fayre 2k25 (space bugs, anyone?), they just would need to make sure to give HCC a list of the bugs to be used two weeks before the event, but you can decide what bugs are chosen!
Blood Wrestling
A more recent tradition, blood wrestling is a good old fashioned wrestling competition, except covered in red paint! There's not much else to say on this tradition, but we would love to see this slippery scenario in May.
Great Lawn’s Great Letters
The letters on the Great Lawn are an interactive structure that has taken on new forms each year. Each year, Build Art for Renn Fayre (BARF) creates new giant letters out of wood that anyone can move around to create new words. Typically, there are many common letters, so there are new creative words throughout the whole weekend. BARF does similar projects that populate the Great Lawn and soon they will be doing weekly building sessions that all are welcome to join! You can find more information on barfzone.com.
Harm Reduction
Renn Fayre has a notorious reputation for drug use that, in the 2000s, drew the attention of the federal government. While these activities may still occur today, they are hopefully done in safer conditions. It is traditional and expected to look out for your fellow Reedies throughout the weekend through Bagel Patrol, sub-free spaces, and the tent run by White Bird, a company that provides free medical services to anyone who needs them. In the weeks leading up to Renn Fayre, there will be a training hosted for volunteers and first-years to introduce harm reduction resources. A helpful tip: the HCC provides free Narcan and training on how to use it if you sign up for an appointment there. We will do our part by providing harm reduction resources, but please educate yourself and perform safe practices before doing anything risky at Renn Fayre!
CHVNK Jousting
CHVNK 666 was a bike club at Reed that would weld tall, wobbly, and beautifully decorated bikes. At Renn Fayre, the club would bike at each other, in some cases while on fire. Although this tradition has been discouraged in recent years for obvious safety concerns, similar activities could still take place! It would be fun to see field day races or something similar to honor the competitive spirit of CHVNK jousting.
Picting and Copting
A tradition completed in the nude, Picting and Copting usually happens the Saturday of Renn Fayre, before Feast. Half of the participants paint themselves blue (the Picters) and the other half paint themselves orange (the Copters). Everyone runs around and the Copters try to wash the blue off of the Picters using water guns. No matter who wins, all of the participants carry out Meat Smoke's bounty and are first in line for the Feast!
Human Chess
In another somewhat self-explanatory tradition, human chess sees Reedies become pawns, bishops, and chess masters! Each chess game features two students conducting a board of other students, usually covered in whimsical costumes. We would love to see some hobby horse sticks and fancy crowns this year.
Maypole Dancing
This is a tradition that was featured at the first Renn Fayre and has continued, in some iteration, ever since. Maypole dancing is common at traditional Renaissance Faires, so it makes sense that Reed's celebration has featured it. We would love to see a return to some of the more medieval activities with a new intergalactic spin!
Blood wrestling, the bug-eating contest, human chess, projects for the lodges, and maypole dancing have not been proposed yet as projects to our submission form, which closes THIS SUNDAY, March 9. We would love to see your interpretations of these traditions before that date, as well as any original projects! We have a budget to fund your creativity and want to use it! Let us make your favorite Renn Fayre tradition possible from this list, your own memories, or past rumors.